One of the tasks of a building's maintenance personnel is to properly control the internal air pressure within the building. Ideally, the internal air pressure should be slightly above the building skin air pressure so as to allow the opening of external doors, which swing outwardly, without undue exertion. In other applications, accurate control of building pressure is critical for explosion, corrosion and moisture control, as well as protection during outdoor/ambient airborne biological, radiological, and chemical events, etc.
Typically, a single pressure sensor is positioned on a single external wall of the building, with the lone pressure sensor giving a single reading of the external air pressure load, allowing the building personnel or building automatic control systems to take appropriate actions. The problem with this system of measuring outside air pressure load is the skewing of the pressure load reading caused by the wind. A pressure sensor that is located in the middle of a wall of a building will give a different pressure reading than will a pressure sensor that is close to the edge of the wall. A pressure sensor that is located in the middle of the fifth floor of the leeward side of a building will give a different pressure reading than will a pressure sensor that is in the middle of the windward side of the fifth floor. Additionally, a pressure sensor located at a lower floor of a building will give a different reading than will a pressure sensor that is on a higher floor of the building directly above the first sensor. Accordingly, the wind will skew the building skin pressure load either higher or lower than the actual ambient air pressure depending on the direction of the wind, the force of the wind, and the location of the pressure sensor.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a method to obtain the building skin pressure load that overcomes the above-stated problems. Such a method must be able to account for the effects of wind on a pressure reading and must arrive at a building skin pressure load reading that is relatively accurate. Such a method must be relatively simple to implement and execute.